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Ben Calhoun's Blog (255)

THE Collection- now available

Now on the market. List is current as of 12/28, some may be sold already. Make an offer or ask on pricing for now.

Will ship a disc for 2.50$. Some discs available in another color, or multiple quantities.Discraft.xls… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on December 28, 2009 at 4:30pm — 7 Comments

Mary Beth Doyle Park and Wetland Preserve..better known as BROWN PAAAAAARK!

Today for the first time I shot the new course at (Brown) Mary Beth Doyle Park. The baskets are not in yet, but the poles are. It's been something like a three and a half year wait to get my old home course back in the ground. Sadly, at the LAST minute (the day they began pouring cement), the city took away our holes #1-5 by the water, ruining years of planning and designing and hundreds of hours of my dad's hard work. (I had almost nothing to do with the new layout ).

Thanks to… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on October 3, 2009 at 9:57pm — 7 Comments

The Lone 4

I just finished what was quite possible the most solid round of disc I've ever thrown. '51' on the Toboggan, besting my previous by 5 strokes and I haven't played it in a year (temp. course).

This is how it went down. Overshot #1 by about 90 ft straight past and layed up for the 3. Shot 50 ft up onto the hill to the left side of the fairway on the near 800 ft. steep uphill #2, then bombed up the middle to left side tall grass, layed up for the easy 4. Threw a 600 ft downhill drive on… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on May 24, 2009 at 7:57pm — No Comments

BYOB

Thanks to all the players and supporters!

It was a big success today, 22 players took home over 150% more than they paid for today (25 minis, 2 hats, and over 30 discs in prizes) . 175$ cash pay-day to Pro winner Daemon Stahlin who won in a very tight battle over Anthony Bee and Tim Gacioch the whole day.

Other winners: Wade Sullivan, Am 1.

Terry Calhoun, Am Masters.

Emma Fotjik, Women.

Steven Blink, Am 3.

Thanks also to William Gilbert for the… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on May 17, 2009 at 6:24pm — 2 Comments

Top 25 - not anymore

I went out with my dad and did the MBD course walkthrough with the Ann Arbor parks dept. peeps today. It's shaping up nicely and I feel like it may actually exist soon.

That was the only good part about area disc golf today.

Then I went to the Farm @ Founder's Park in Farmington Hills for the first time (#1,056) a little 9 hole course with Chainstars and 2 sets of dirt tees and with signs. It was poorly laid out (lack of land to make a good layout flow though) with crazy… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on March 5, 2009 at 2:25pm — 6 Comments

March Meltdown

..except it's February and everything re-froze over night after the rain leaving us with some of the most wicked icy fairways I've played on in a tournament. Often you had to lay up or slide a putt or approach for fear of long misses and had to play the ice on several drives and upshots which made a tough day. Got to witness Frame-O- taking a 7 on a short hole.

I played better than expected and got a bit of good luck, shooting a 60 then a 58 at Rolling Hills Long tees (both bad… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on February 28, 2009 at 6:44pm — No Comments

Hudson Mills

It'd be nice if they shoveled the tee pads especially on a record high snow-melt day, since we are paying 50$ for the privilege of playing there...

I played 42 holes out there today- 24 Blues (66) and 18 Yellow (48, played w/ Dr. Steve- 49). It appeared no one had even played the Blue tees in weeks, let alone shovel, so I grabbed the nearby crappy plastic one and did them all as best as I could w/ it. They should be clear enough to play by… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on February 10, 2009 at 4:00pm — 6 Comments

Warmest day of the year!

It got up to 51 today, so I went to Independence Lake doubles at noon. There were 15 of us, and me and John Davis tied for 2nd with a 52. The wind was howling at 30+ mph the entire round as the snow melted before our eyes and the lake went from pure ice to deep water on top of the ice as all the snow melted. I've never seen anything like that, and so fast. I lost my Star Max but then found it as soon as I went to re-look for it because the snow on top of it had melted, and then found an… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on February 7, 2009 at 9:15pm — No Comments

States

visited 48 states (96%)

Create your own visited map of The United States or try another Douwe Osinga… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on January 30, 2009 at 10:09am — 1 Comment

Independence

I played Independence Lake today (#1,055) for the first time, a brand new course installed by the Local 101 club in Ann Arbor, which is fast becoming the place to play in the country, with 2 more courses coming this year (both I'll be working on this weekend).

Whitmore Lake, MI- Independence Lake: 13 miles from my house, 2 less than Hudson Mills, but only about 5 miles from the Mills, with a disc-shop between the two courses (CJ's), makes it very convenient. It is a county park, 25$… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on January 8, 2009 at 1:38pm — 7 Comments

1,054

First new course of 2009 and post- 2008 tour!

I went out and played the new Waterloo State Rec. Area course in Grass Lake, MI today because it's about freezing, almost no snow to be found, and without any wind- best chance you will get here this time of year.

It's 27 miles from my door to the parking lot, a dozen more than Hudson Mills but only a few extra minutes because 2/3 of the way is by I-94.

Cost of parking was 6$ or 24$ yearly so I just got the… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on January 3, 2009 at 1:26pm — 5 Comments

Bottom 25

Tentative List of the Worst (for varying reasons including navigation issues, poor land useage, horrible course conditions constantly, design). Several on the list may be good for varying reasons too- only basket in the country, not allergic to ivy, or you already know how to navigate it.

Dr. Lawless, MI

Lenawee Christian School, MI

Villa High, KS

LeFluers Bluff, MS

Rivery, TX

Rock Canyon, UT

Brickyard, WI

Parma,… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on January 2, 2009 at 11:53am — 6 Comments

The Top 25.

My Top 25 Courses picks, in no particular order. Nearly as many that are on this list would tie for the 20-25th spots if there was room for that. I whittled it down to this for geographical and course style variety.

Worst 25 coming soon.

Hudson Mills Original, MI

Toboggan, MI

Kensington Tunnel,MI

Cass Benton, MI

Morraine State, PA

Warwick, NY

Patapsco, MD*

Idlewild, KY

Pickard, IA

Highbridge Hills- Granite Ridge,… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on January 2, 2009 at 11:00am — 15 Comments

29 Hours

Without electricity! Having a record high the day it shut off was not a good thing- all my food is spoiled and the basement is flooding. Now it's 44 degrees inside, with 4 cats 2 dogs and a parrot. No running water as we have a pump. No shower for 2 days, but I did spend 6 hours at work waiting in the cold reading, hoping the power would come on downtown but it never did either. DTE won't give an estimate for time and you cannot contact a human being by phone there. I have to work again at 10… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on December 29, 2008 at 8:48am — 2 Comments

Safely in Peru

My parents have arrived safely in Lima, Peru around midnight- after a 3 hour delay on the Tarmac due to an airport closing. Just getting there was bad- icy highway meant countless cars in ditches. Now back home we are getting record highs- up to 63, to melt all the snow the day they bask in 90+ degree heat and 100% humidity.

Added by Ben Calhoun on December 27, 2008 at 10:18am — 3 Comments

Christmas round

It's 3 and we haven't eaten or opened presents in the Calhoun house yet, so I went out to try to play 9 holes.

The thick ice layer on top of the foot of snow made it a joke to throw with any accuracy, or even without twisting an ankle. It wasn't too cold, but it was tough to walk that far through that stuff, having to lift your leg straight up with each step and chase down long sliding shots.

Hope everyone else at least made it out… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on December 25, 2008 at 3:20pm — 1 Comment

Whittling away

It's going to very tough to make a top-25 list.

These 80+ are just after going down the list quickly, there are probably another dozen that should make the short list I didn't see on first pass. If you want to recommend one that I played you don't see let me know, or have support/bad words for any of these courses let me know.

Hudson Mills Original, MI

Toboggan, MI

Kensington Tunnel,MI

Morraine State, PA

Tinicum, PA

Baker Farm, NY

Burnsboro,… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on December 18, 2008 at 11:52am — 7 Comments

Hating Michigan

By noon on Friday, there will be an additional 7-11" of snow on the ground on top of the already 4" or so. It is coming in late tonight so I'll probably be at work all night, glad to get whatever I can get right now so I won't have to touch my savings account.

I will begin working on Best/Worst courses lists today, expecting to whittle down a Top -25 list by the end of the day and will post it.

I'd practice putting, but my fingers lock up within minutes and become hard to… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on December 18, 2008 at 10:17am — 11 Comments

Some tour statistics

Here are some of the stats from my trip this year:

Courses

Total: 1,053

Began with: 375 known (was 382- encountered forgotten courses along the way)

New courses for 2008: 671

Additional courses played again in 2008: 24

Courses played in 2008: 695

New courses per day playing: 3.3

Time

Days from beginning to end (not over?): 226

Days 'on-break' not playing:… Continue

Added by Ben Calhoun on December 13, 2008 at 2:00pm — 1 Comment

First toss post-trip

And it was a park-job on #1 short at my house, for the duece. I haven't thrown any disc since returning home. But, someone from here wanted to play in Ann Arbor today so we just finished half a round. I will begin working on tour statistics, it's nice being back to work, having made 622$ so far this week picking up small shifts.

Added by Ben Calhoun on December 12, 2008 at 1:16pm — 3 Comments